Street and station indicator.



F. B. SUBFNSON;

STREET AM) STAHON INDICATOR.-

APPLiCMlQR HLED FEB. 6. H112.

Patented Mar. 26, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEEF 1.

1 k r A A I J I 0 INVENTOR F ED BlTosmaou MLM 26 F. B. RUBINSGN. STREET AND STATION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION man m1. 6. i917.

Patented Mar. 26, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FRED B .Rosmsow g M S 4 Mr" 1 W R /w A Home m- .F. B. ROBINSON. SIREET mm snnou mmcnok.

[APPLICATION FILED Ill!- 6. m1- Patented Man 26, 1918 3 SHEETS-SNHJ 3- INVENTOR FRED Bfiosmaow,

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FEED B. ROBINSON, OF FORT WINFIELD SCOTT, CALIFORNIA.

STREET AND STATION INDICATOR.

Application flied February 6, 1917.

T0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRED B. Rooms-ox, a citizen of the United. States, and a resident of Fort Winfield Scott, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have in vented a certain new and useful Improve ment in Street and Station Indicators, of. which the followin is a specification.

My invention re ates to improvements in street and station indicators, and it consists in the combinations, constructions, and arrangements herein described and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide a device by means of which the name of streets may be indicated to the passengers in a street car, railway train, or the like before such street is reached.

A further object of my invention is to provide an electrically contrplled indicatmg mechanism of a novel type;

A further object of my invention is to provide an indicating mechanism in which the movements of the display device is controlled by means of a pneumatically operuted mechanism, the latter being in turn controlled by electrical switches in the man ner hereinafter described.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointecLout iii the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawings forming part of this application, in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of the electrical circuits and the mechanism conted therewith.

Fig. 2 is a. detailed view of a contact closing tigvice. I

Fig. 3'1s a sectional view through a portion of the device.

in the drawings is applied to a Street'rail Specification of Letters Yatent.

Patented Mar. 26,1918.

Serial No. 146,880.

way. it will be seen that the device may be applied to railroad systems without departing from the spirit of the invention in gen-- oral.

Considering now Fig. 1, it will be seen that the car 1 is provided with a conducting shoe 2, which is curved at its ends, as shown at 3. The shoe is suspended from an insulating bar 4- secured to the car by means of brackets 5. Bolts (3 are arranged to slide through the insulating support it, these bolts being attached to the shoe :2, while springs 8 are provided for cushioning movement of the shoe.

Arranged to cooperate with shoe 2 is a contact 9 of the form shown in Fig. 2. This consists of'a conducting head carried upon I a bracket 10, which is secured to the rail 11 in the manner shown, being provided with an attaching arm 10 and a brass member 10 arranged to engage the rail base, thus forming an exceedingly strong and rigid. construction.

In certain instances these contacts may be located on both sides of the track, as-for instance, with steam and conduit electric lines. In the present instance, howeventhe contacts are placed on one rail only. There are two of-th'ese contacts for each block. They are both located at equal distances from the respective streets at the ends of the bhzick, say approximately at feet from the en A shoe such as that shown at 2 may be provided on the opposite side of the car if desired.

Referring again to Fig, 1, M is a magn t which controls switch arm S, the latter being pivotally connected at s to a slidable switch member K. A solenoid M has its core at pivotally connected at d to switch arm D which is pivotally mounted at dm. A solenoid or magnet M has a double winding and its core is also connected with the arm D at d. In the circuit controlled by the arm D is a solenoid M, whose core m is connected with the stem 12 of a valve 13 carried by the cylinder 14.

Reterrin now to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the va ve 13 controls an intake pipe 15 and an exhaust pipe 16. The exhaust pipe is shown in Fig. 3 as being in communication with the interior of the cylinder 14 through an exhaust passage 14", while the intake 7 interior of the cylinder 14 through a port 14 when the valve is shifted.

The cylinder is provided with a piston P whose stem p is surrounded by a spiral 8 ring 17. The stem passes out through the 0nd of the cylinder, and is provided at its end with a rack 18. A contact closing arm 19 having an insulating head 20 is carried by the stem p.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 5 I have shown therein a transmission mechanism which converts reciprocatory movement of the rack 18 into intermittent; rotary movement, which is always in the same direction. To this end I provide a stat1onary shaft 21 upon which is rotatably mounted a sleeve 22, bearing a gear 23 in engagement with the rack 18. At the end of the sleeve 22 are clutch members 22 and 22*, arranged tb engage companion clutch members 23 and 23, respectively. The clutch member 23 is at the end of a sleeve 24, which is integrally connected with a bevel gear 25. The latter is arranged to engage a. bevel gear 26 when the ear 23 1S turnm in one direction, and to e thrown out o mesh with the gear 26 when the gear 23 is turning in the opposite direction. The clutch member 23 is on the sleeve 27 bearing a bevel gear 28, which'is arranged to engage the opposite side of the gear 26 at a time when the ear 25 is out of engagement. Both of t e gears 25 and 28 have springs 29 which tend to force them into engagement with the gear 26.

It will be obvious that when the rack 18 is moving upwardly in Fig. 5, the gear 23.

will rotate in the direction shown by the curved arrows. This will cause the clutch member 22* to engage the clutch member 23 and rotate the gear 28, thus tending to rotate gear 26 in the direction shown by, the curved arrow. At the same tlme the rotation of the clutch member 22" will cause an outward movcmenlt of the gear 25 through the cam action of the clutch members 22 and 23'- as the teeth slide over on one another. The gear 25 being pushed outwardly a ainst the tension of the spring 29 permits the gear 26 to rotate freely. v

The means for displaying names of the streets is best shown in Figs. 3, 6 and 7. It consists of a casing 30 having windows 31 and 32 on opposite sides thereof. As will be seen from Fig. 7, the window 31 is near one end of the casin while the window 32 is near the other enc The. casing 30 is mounted on pivots 33 at the center of the casing and may be revolved so as to bring the windows 31 or 32 in the position shown in 34 and 35, respectively. These rollers are 6 an axle such as those shown at 34? and 35*.

free to turn, each roller being provided with These axles are prolon ed at one end and are provided with a mail: clutch member 34 which is arranged to engage the female clutch member 36 on the shaft 36, which bears the gear 26. The axles 31 and 35* are slidahle longitudinally, but are prevented from rotating by means of the feather or key such as that shown at 34 in F ig. 4. In Fig. 8 I have shown the axle 34 as ex tended and as hem r provided with a knob 34". A spring 34 hecps the axle normally in a position in which the clutch member 34- is extended, that is to say, is forced toward the female clutch member 36. In order to disengage these clutch members it is only necessary to pull the knob 34 outwardly when the casing may be reversed on its pivot so as to bring the axle of the other roller into position to engage the clutch member 36. wound on the rollers 34 and is a strip of flexible material 37, which bears the names of streets, the names of the streets on one sideof the strip being in the reverse order from the names on the other side.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device the operation thereof may be readily understood.

Let us assume that a street car has passed a street and is approachin one of the contacts. The engagement 0 the shoe 2 with the contact 9 causes the ener ation of the magnet- M current flowing y the following path: from the positive wire through 40, switch H switch arm S, 41, through winding of magnet M", 42, slidable switch K, 43, shoe 2, 9, and to ground or if a metallic return is used to the source of current by said metallic conductor. This will move the switch arm D over to the right in Fig. 1, whereupon currentwill be caused to flow from the positive wire through 44, outer winding of the magnet M", contact 15, D 46, 47, magnet M, Wire 48 to the opposite or negative conductor. It will be observed that the outer and inner coils of the magnet M are wound so as to an ment and not oppose each other. The out 1' coil of magnet-M forms a locking circuit for holding the switch arm D in position after the shoe 2 has left the contact 9.

. The magnet or solenoid M on being energized draws in its core m and moves valve 13 into positionshown in Fig. 1. The intake pipe 15 is connected with a suitable source of compressed air, not shown, and the air is admitted through the .port 14' into the interio'r of the cylinder 14, driving the piston P before it and compressing the spring 17. The movement of the piston rod p causes the movement of the rack 18, see Fig. 5, and the rotation of the car 26 in the manner already described. the turning of the roller 34 connected with his causes the gear a definite distance so as to bring 71mm Q the name of the next street intti iview before the contact 49 it will push the latter into engagement with the spring contact 50 see Fig. 1, whereupon current will flow m the positive wire through 52, 50, 49, 53, magnet M and by wire 54 to the negative conductor. The head 20 is adjusted to engagle the spring contact 49 when the piston P as reached the end of its stroke. The switch arm S is now moved to as tobreak contact with the wire 41 and make contact with the wire 55 and at the same time the slidable member K is moved to break contact with the wire 42 audio make contact with the wire 56. This'puts the magnet M in condition to be energized when the shoe 2 a ain e a contact 9.

The cosing of the contacts at {til-50 switches on electric lights 60, which illuminate the name of the street, see Fig. 6.

The car now continues on its way and eventually the shoe '2 will engage the contact 9, near the end of the block. When this occurs current will flow from the positive wire through 40, H, S, 55, M 56, K 43, 9, to the negative line. The action of theme. at M pulls the switch arm I) from the ful line to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, thereby breaking t e looking circuit of the solenoid or magnet M. The spring which controls the valve stem 12 now pushes the valve 13 from the position shown in Fig.1 to that shown in Fig. 3, .cutting oil" the air from the intake pipe 15, and opening the exhaust pipe 16 to the interior of the cylinder 14. The exhaust pipe 16 is larger than the intake p ilpe, so that air may be exhausted rapidly. he spring 17 now forces the piston P to the opposite end of the cylinder, and this moves the valve stem P and the rack 18. The first movement of. the stem p breaks the contacts at 49 and 50, and this deenergizes the solenoid M allowin the spring .A. to pullthe arm S ackwar ly, into the position shown in Fig. 1, at the same time moving the slidable switch member K.

In the meant me a further movement of the piston P will cause the rack 18 to turn the roller throughthe medium of the transmission mech'anism shown in Fig. 5 so as, to bring a blank space before the window 31. This completes the cycle. When the shoe strikes the next contact, the cycle is begun again.

When the end of the line is reached, and the return tri begins, the casing 30 is revolved by pulling outwardly on the handle 34. so as to release the clutch members 34 and 36". The opposite side of the flexible stri 37 is then brought into view. It is obvious that as the flexible strip is wound off from one roller on to the other, the difference in the thickness of the roller will cause a greater or less linear movement of the flexible strip past the window. In order to com ensate for this I make the letters which orm the names of the street and the spaces between adjacent names wider or narrower as the case may be so that no matter how thick the roller is the apparatus will move the roller so as to bring the name to the proper position for the window.

It may be necessary for a car to pass a contact such'as that shown at 9, and then retrace its route, as for instance, when the car has to back up to permit a snow plow, sand car or other emergency car to pass. This might tend to interfere with the proper working of the device and to prevent such a contingency I provide a switch H, which controls the electric valve controlling mechanism. The conductor may open this switch ,and thcnrun the car back and forth as much as he pleases, taking care, however, to cilose the switch in order to give the correet indication when the car has proceeded on its run.

It is obvious that the lights 60 will remain on while the name of the street is being displayed, but will be extinguished as soon as the contacts 49, 50, are broken or ,in other words, while the roller is shifting from a street name to a blank space. It

will furthermore be obvious that when the piston stem moves outwardly the name, of a street Will be brou ht into view; when it moves inwardly, a lank space will be brought into registration with, the window 31. 1

I am aware that other forms of the device might be made to accomplish the results above, but I consider as my own all the modifications which :fairl fall within the spirit and scope of the c aims.

I claim:

1. In a street indicatingsystem for ve- .110

' hicles, a casing, a roller rotatably disposed at each end of the casing, a flexible strip carried by one roller'and having a portion Wound on the othermoller, apair of windows in the casing, one of said windows being disposed in one side of the casin near one of said rollers and the other on the opposite side near the other roller, the said' casing being mounted to rotate on an axis parallel with the axis of the rollers and disposed .on a line midway between them.

2. In a street indicating system for vehicles, a casing, a roller rotatably disposed at each end of the casing, a flexible strip carried by one roller and having a portion wound on the other roller, a pair of windows in the casing, one of said windows being disposed in one side of the casing near one of said rollers and the other on the opposite side near the other roller, the said casing being mounted to rotate on an axis parallel. with the axis of the rollers and disposed on a line midway between them a clutch member carried by the shaft of each of said rollers, a drivin mechanism and a clutch member carried the driving mechanism and arranged to e engaged by the clutch member of either of said rollers.

3. In a street indicating system for vehicles, a cylinder, a piston therein, a piston rod or stem, a valve in said casing for admitting air, a spring for returning the pis ton to its normal position, means for converting the reciprocatory movement of the piston stem to rotary movement in the same direction, said means comprising a rack carried by the piston stem, a pinion arranged to be engaged by the rack, a main bevel gear, a pair of auxiliary bevel gears adapted to engage said main bevel gear, and clutch members between said pinion and each of said auxiliary bevel gears for connecting and disconnecting said pinion from said auxil iary ears.

4. n a street indicating system. for vehicles,a cylinder, a piston therein, a piston rod or stem, a valve in said casing for admitting air, a spring for returning the pisston to its normal position, means -for converting the reciprocatory movement of the piston stem to rotary movement in the same direction. said means comprising a rack carried by the piston stem, a pinion arranged to be engaged by the rack, a main bevel gear, a pair of auxiliary bevel gears adapted to engage said main bevel gear, and means dis-- posed between each of said auxiliary bevel gears, and said pinion for bringing said auxiliary gear out of mesh with the main bevel gear when the pinion is revolving in a certain direction.

5. In a street indicating system for vehicles, a casing having windows, a movable flexible strip having names arranged to move past the window, means for operating the flexible strip, said means including a pneumatic device, a valve for controlling the pneumatic device, an electro-magnetic piston for controlling said valve, said electromagnetic system comprising a solenoid connected with the valve, a switch for actuating the solenoid, a magnet for operating the switch, a shoe carried by the vehicle, and contacts disposed along the track and arranged to be engaged b the shoe for completing a circuit throng the switch operating magnet.

6. In a street indicating system for vehicles, a casing having a window, a movable flexible strip having names arranged to move past the window, means for operating the flexible strip, said means includin a pneumatic device, a valve for controlling the pneumatic device, an eleetro-ma netie device for controlling said valve, sai electro-maguetic device comprising a solenoid connected with the valve, a switch for actnating the solenoid, a magnet for operating the swltch, a shoe carried by the vehicle, contacts disposed along the track and arranged to be engaged by the shoe for completing a circuit through the switch operating magnet, said switch opera'tin magnet being provided with a locking circuit for holding said switch when the shoe has passed the contact.

7. In a street indicating system for vehicles, a casing having windows, a movable flexible strip having names arranged to move past the window, means for operating the flexible strip, said means including a pneumatic device, a valve for controlling the pneumatic device, an e1ectro-magnetic device for controlling said valve, said elee tro-magnetic device comprising a, solenoid connected with the valve, a switch for actuating the solenoid, a magnet for operating the switch, a shoe carried by the vehicle, contacts disposed along the track and arranged. to be engaged by the shoe for completing a circuit through the switch operating magnet, said switch operating magnet being provided with :1 ice King circuit for holding said switch when the shoe has passed the contact, an auxiliary switch for controlling the circuit of said first named switch operating magnet, and a second switch operating magnet opposedto the first named switch operating magnet and arranged to be brought movement of the auxiliary switch.

FRED B. ROBINSON. Witnesses:

LOUIS A. HACKWORTH, F. M. FERGUSON.

into operation by the 

